Finishing up

 After a fruitful time of ministry at Ambassador Baptist College in Lattimore, North Carolina, we took our trailer in tow and began the long trip to Colorado.  After a drive of about 9 hours, we stopped for the night at a church in Clarksville, TN.  When we endeavored to get up the next morning and continue our journey, the slide-out of our trailer would not move.  I attempted a repair myself--or at least a diagnosis of the problem--but could not get the mechanism to work properly.  Eventually, we were able to get the room in enough to travel, but we realized that taking the trailer to Colorado would not be possible.  A four-hour detour later, we were back home packing all our necessary items into our church's cargo trailer.  We then took this trailer to the meeting in Colorado.  The travel trailer has an appointment with the repair shop on December 28, 2021.  This was the earliest available date to get it in.  In the meantime, we continue to travel with the cargo trailer and stay wherever churches can put us.

Currently, we are home for the Thanksgiving holiday, enjoying our time in Mississippi.  I had the opportunity to preach in our home church this past Sunday night.  It was such a blessing to be able to minister to the church family.  They have become so dear to us over the years that we have been members.

Two more meetings remain before the end of the year.  The first is with Tom Brennan in Dubuque, IA, and the other is a tent meeting in Shelby, NC.  Please pray that the God continues to a do a work in our ministry.

Our nation is ripe for another spiritual awakening.  On every hand, people seem to sense that there are great needs, but only those who know the Gospel really have the answer.  Please pray for us what the Apostle Paul requested that the Ephesians pray for him: "That utterance may be given unto me; that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel."

 This month has been a month of seemingly constant repairs--and a heartache as well.  As we headed out of Montana to our meeting in South Dakota, we were nearing our destination when two of our trailer tires blew at the same time on the same side.  I suspect that there was something in the road that caused the tires to blow because the motorist behind us also had a tire blow at the same time.  Changing tires on the Interstate is part of the description of the evangelist, but I had never had two blow at the same time on the same side.  That night we limped into the Bible Baptist Church of Brookings, South Dakota on three tires.  The good news was that we were able to park the trailer and have a place for the family to live while I worked on rounding up the necessary parts to fix the trailer.  The only tires that I was able to find were a temporary fix, but at least they got us on to where we needed to be.

Tire blowouts always do other trailer damage, and this time was no different.  On my trailer, there is a six-point hydraulic leveling system that came in handy when I had to work on the tires.  The blown tire perforated one of the hydraulic lines so that as we were leaving Michigan, fluid was pouring out everywhere.  I was able to make it all the way from Michigan back to Mississippi where I replaced the faulty line.  Also, I was able to get good quality tires for the trailer.  The tires normally run about $500 apiece installed, but the man gave me all four of them for $800 total.  Praise God for His provision.

There were also some minor issues with the truck: a water pump failed after 300,000 miles, and a coolant gasket did the same thing a couple of weeks later.  I have decided not to complain about auto parts that last that long.

We had some wonderful meetings this month, including a first for me.  Pastor John Allen of Valparaiso, Indiana, began a Christian Workers Seminar years ago to try to help the lay workers in his church to be better at what they do.  This year, he invited me to speak twice at the meeting (it goes all day long on a a Saturday) and then to preach in his church the following day.  What a great meeting that was!  It was a great blessing to be able to be a part of it.  Local church meetings SD, MI, and MS were also blessed of the Lord.

On Wednesday, October 13, 2021, a dear friend of ours went home to be with the Lord.  Pastor Jason Walker's heart stopped in his sleep, due possibly to A-fib, ushering him into the presence of our Lord.  A week later, my family and I were present at his funeral in Brooklyn, NY.  Over 500 people were there to pay their respects to a man whose ministry was characterized by a love of people.  Please pray for his widow and seven children.  

God has been so good to us and we look forward to continuing ministry as the year winds down.  Thank you all for your prayers.

Of Mountains and Prairies

The combination of preaching the Gospel in the mountains of Colorado has got to be one of the best that I can think of.  We were with Evangelist Dwight Smith in Meeker for the Victory Gospel Crusade.  This ministry is always exciting with services under the tent every night.  

From there, it was back to the front range, the Denver area, where we continued with the Smith family in a local church revival.  This was a different ministry because the pastor had recently resigned because of tragic circumstances.  Now, we as evangelists were there to help a hurting church as they move forward.

From Colorado, my plan was to go to Wyoming and fill my freezer with venison.  I have come to love the times in which I hunt with my children there.  We came home with three deer in four days of hunting.  Good times.

Because the spot where I normally park my trailer in Wyoming was not available due to construction, I found myself parking just a bit north in Montana at the Faith Baptist Church of Lodge Grass.  Bro. Dwight Smith was supposed to begin a meeting here on Sunday, but his trailer electrical system developed a problem, and he was unable to make it for Sunday services.  I preached the first Sunday of the meeting in his absence.

From there, we headed out across the great prairie toward our meetings in the midwestern United States.  Last night, after about 650 miles of driving, we were driving after dark heading for Brookings, South Dakota.  Fifteen miles from our destination, both tires on the trailer blew on the driver's side.  It seems that something on the road caused the blowout, although I didn't see exactly what it was.  I was not the only motorist to experience a blown tire due to the conditions.  In 18 years of pulling a trailer, I have had many blowouts, but never two on the same side at the same time.  After 2 1/2 to 3 hours of working in an 80-mile-per-hour speed zone, we finally got the spare installed, got off the freeway, and limped to the church on 3 wheels.  The trailer is now all set up to live in, and we will soon begin the process of assessing the damage before heading off to our next meeting.

I am so excited about the meetings that we have coming up.  The schedule is full, and we look forward to seeing what God will do.  Thank you so much for your prayers.

Monsoon

 Never before have I been in the American Southwest during the monsoon season.  It is a time when the rains come in from the Pacific Ocean and Baja California.  Some monsoon seasons in the past have brought very little rainfall, motivating some in Arizona and New Mexico to rename the season "nonsoon."  This year, however, the rains have come abundantly, causing the desert to burst into green.  As I sit and write, the Catalina Mountains of Southern Arizona are covered in green due to the abundant rain.  Of course, the season will end all too soon and the endless days of sunshine will resume, but it is wonderful to enjoy the ubiquitous evidence of God's gracious provision in the meantime.

After a brief time at home during which I worked a good deal with my hands, we loaded up again and headed for the Southwest.  We had a great time of ministry with the Cornerstone Baptist Church of Phoenix, Arizona.  After preaching to the church on Wednesday, I repaired to the mountains with the men of the church to preach a man camp.  What a time I had hearing how God was working in the lives of the men!  It was a blessing to hear of men who had only recently trusted Christ as Savior growing in the Lord and surrendering to His leading.  Cornerstone Baptist Church has been a church that loves preaching as long as I have known them, and the men of the church seem to set the tone for that love.

Cornerstone has been one of the few churches that support our ministry on a monthly basis.  On Sunday evening after I had finished preaching, the Pastor called his people into a meeting to discuss our monthly support.  His recommendation was that the church double it, but his people voted to increase our support beyond his recommendation.  I am still humbled as I reflect on their generosity.

After a great meeting there in Phoenix, we headed to Tucson where I preached for Pastor Jon Shuerger, a man who was at college with me.  The Lord gave us a great meeting there as well with open doors for the future.

When we assayed to leave Tucson, I discovered a transmission problem in my truck.  After a preliminary attempt to repair it proved unsuccessful, we took it to a mechanic in the area.  He looked at the transmission and discovered that a screw-on filter inside the housing had come off and was blocking the flow of fluid at times.  Just before I sat down to write, he informed me that the truck is fixed and that the bill is paid, by whom I don't know.  All I know is that someone in Tucson has once again decided to serve God by serving others.  Praise the Lord!  Their reward will be given by God Himself.

We head north to Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota, and Indiana in the next month.  Thank you so much for your prayers.

Death Wobble

 June was a very busy month dominated mostly by camp in New Mexico.  With Sarah left behind in Mississippi to tend to things at home, we (Paul, Abigail, Esther, and Daniel) all packed in the truck and headed out to New Mexico for three different camps there.  The first was normal camp, whatever that is, and the other two were horsemanship camps.  God richly blessed in all three camps.  The horsemanship camps are by nature smaller attended than normal camp, but God really worked in all of them, with several salvation decisions in the normal camp.  This camp was unusual in that God began His work right away.  It is not uncommon for there to be a period of camp where people are not very receptive to the preaching and they have to warm up to the very idea of camp.  This time, we saw the Lord work from Monday night onwards.

We formed themselves into a work crew and took on the project of reroofing the bathhouse this year.  The leaking roof had caused several problems in the past, and it was time for a new one.  We tore it off, replaced all the dry-rotted wood, built six new skylights, and put a new metal roof back.  It was a hard job in which all were reminded of how difficult roofing work is, especially in the triple-digit temperatures of New Mexico in June.  The project was not completed until the very last day of the very last camp.  On that day, we installed six skylights, had the final service, loaded all our things, and drove 640 miles to our next meeting in Texas.  It made for a long day.  We are excited to see the things that God will be doing in camp in days to come.

After a couple of days at home, during which time we dove into a home remodeling project, I was off to a meeting in Wilson, North Carolina.  On the drive, I experienced for the first time something that continues to haunt me even as I remember it.  The phenomenon is commonly referred to as death wobble.  As the steering system components wear, the truck can become unmanageable at times.  For me, it was every time I hit a bump on the highway.  Death wobble causes the front end of the moving vehicle to shake uncontrollably, and in my case, continue to do so until the vehicle comes to a complete stop.

My experience with the first problems of steering came on the day that I was to drive over 800 miles to my meeting in NC.  After a routine stop, it seemed as if something was not quite right with the steering.  I pulled the vehicle over and crawled underneath, but could not find anything that looked out of place.  I got back on the road.  After another stop, the same thing occurred, and it seemed that I could not turn the vehicle to the left as far as it was accustomed to  go.  Again, I examined it but found nothing.  Finally, inside the I-285 beltway of Atlanta, GA, it seemed that something fell out from under the truck.  I could not tell what it was, nor was I certain that something had indeed fallen.  Then the death wobble began in earnest.  Before, I had suspected something; now, I was certain.  Just east of the I-75/85 junction with I-20 in Atlanta, I pulled off the highway in a rainstorm and was stuck there.  One of the steering system bolts had come loose and fallen completely out of the vehicle.  Pastor Steven Chambers came to my aid, and we were able to get the truck back on the road.  I arrived at the church where I was to preach shortly after 1:00 on Sunday morning.

After a wonderful day with the Trinity Baptist Church, I set out to head back to Mississippi when the death wobble occurred again.  Deeming it of great importance to get the problem fixed, I found a recommended repair facility in Selma, North Carolina.  There the truck sits now.  I am back at the prophet's chamber of the Trinity Baptist Church with my family 825 miles away.  As I have researched death wobble, I have discovered that it is a problem that has seemingly become more common as more parts are manufactured in China.  It happens even on new vehicles with far fewer miles than I have on my truck.  As I reflect on all that has taken place, I am very grateful that God protected me through all of this.  In all my years of driving, I have never encountered anything behind the wheel that was as frightening as this.

Thank you for your prayers.  It is easy to take something like road safety for granted.  I am grateful that God is still in the business of caring for His people.

Reunions

 As life has brought its changes, one of the realities that we deal with is distance from loved ones.  The greatest void that we feel is our son Josiah's absence from our home and ministry.  Not long ago, he finished his sophomore year at college.  It is a treat whenever we can be with him.  Such a reunion happened over Mother's Day weekend of this year.  Having completed the Spring semester, he drove to Ohio where he joined the family for Mother's Day.  It was so good to have him home.  He is off on summer ministry now, serving with Neighborhood Bible Time.  He will return from Bible Time to Mississippi to an empty house--we will be in meetings out west--before heading off to college once again.

Josiah was not the only family member that we got to spend time with this month.  While in a normal revival meeting in Knox, Indiana, we got to spend some time with the Crow side of the family.  On Mother's Day and the week following, we were with Sarah's mother and step-father, and her Brother Micah's family.  It was a great time of not only seeing our family, but also of ministering alongside them.

Our meetings in Indiana and Ohio have been blessed by God throughout these past weeks.  It is humbling to see how the Lord uses us in every place.  Our time in the Midwest closes next Sunday, after which we head home and then on to New Mexico for camp.

As we head to camp, please pray that God would work in hearts of parents to allow their children to come to camp.  The fear constantly being fomented in the minds of Americans today has had negative impact on traditional means of evangelization.  In other words, parents who would normally have allowed their children to go to camp where they could hear the Gospel are less willing to do so this year.  Please pray that God would overcome the obstacles and allow the young people to come to camp.  Camp has been a place where many have trusted Christ in days gone by.  Please pray that the reactions of people to a disease would not prevent the Gospel from going forward.

Our music CD is still available.  If you would like one, please go to paulcrow.org, click on contact, and send me an e-mail.  We would be glad to get one into your hands.  The Lord has used the music ministry already and our prayer is that He would continue to do so.

Many trouble-free miles are behind us in traveling this year, but there are more miles to travel.  Please pray for safety as we go.

Changes

 The last month saw us change ends of the country from the deserts of Arizona all the way to east coast.  On the way, we picked up a couple of weeks in our home area of West Tennessee/North Mississippi.  The Lord kept us safe the entire way.

One of the dangers facing us early on was dangerous winds as we crossed Texas.  As we drove across the Permian Basin (Midland/Odessa area), we saw trucks and trailers that had overturned in the cross winds.  One man and his travel trailer were completely upside down on the leeward side of the Interstate.  Another tow truck had capsized and was on its side, along with the broken down Chevy he was endeavoring to haul.  We were very grateful to make it back without incident, although we decided to drive much slower than we might otherwise have done.  Praise the Lord for safety over thousands of miles.

One of the highlights every year for our family is going to minister in New York City.  With all of the problems that the city presents, there are still a lot of good people there.  It was a blessing to see them again and to be able to minister there.  Praise the Lord that in the midst of all of the COVID-19 madness, there are still churches preaching the Gospel.  The city itself seemed like a ghost town compared to normal, evidently due to the fact that so many are telecommuting to work these days.  It was somewhat eerie to see the buildings with almost no one coming or going in the vicinity.

We also got the opportunity to ministry just across the river from the nation's capital in Alexandria, Virginia.  Pastor Philip Bishop has been faithfully serving there for many years and has been a dear friend for a long time.

After two more stops in Virginia, we head for the Midwest for a couple of months.  Please pray that God will continue to open doors.

Some of you reading this receive this update automatically in your inbox as I publish it on my blog.  The host has informed me that this service will be discontinued in the coming months.  What I need is for everyone who would like to continue to receive this message as an email to send me a personal email message confirming that you would like to continue to receive it.  You can email us by going to our website paulcrow.org and finding the contact page there.  I will take the addresses of those who contact me and form another list so that you will not miss any news from our ministry.

Thanks so much for praying.  Please pray that God will open hearts to the Gospel.

Blessings in a Desert Place

 The Lord has given us a wonderful month of serving Him, this time in the Southwestern portion of our nation.  There is something refreshing about reading of the rest of the nation in snow and ice while we suffer for Jesus in the sunshine of Southern California or Arizona.  But the Lord did a great work in the places where He called us to go.

I had not been in full-time evangelism for one whole year before Fundamental Baptist Church of Escondido, California, had me for a week-long meeting.  They have been having me ever since.  Over the years, it has been rewarding to see how the Lord has worked in the lives of people.  This year, we saw three walk the aisle and trust Christ as Savior.  Two were a couple, the man being a drill instructor for the Marines.

Another highlight of our stay in California was preaching in a new church plant in the high desert town of Phelan.  The Shepherd's Call Baptist Church lost their place to meet due to COVID-19, but they are continuing to meet in places that the Lord has supplied for them.  Please pray that God will give them a more permanent place to meet.

From California, it was off to Arizona.  Coming down from the high desert to Indio, California is a descent of nearly 4,000 feet.  On that drive, we were having a problem with our brakes on the truck.  This has been an ongoing problem dating back to last year.  We parked at Cornerstone Baptist Church in Phoenix, Arizona, and asked them for recommendations of mechanics that we could use to get some work done.  I expected a simple brake job.  Instead, the mechanic told me that many components of the front end were worn out and had to be replaced.  The bill totaled over $5,000.  The Lord laid it on the heart of Pastor John Roy to help us with half of the repair.  We are so grateful to him and the people of Cornerstone.

The truck repair was done just in time for us to get to our next meeting in Amado, AZ.  Pastor Richard Bloxton and his people are a congregation that absolutely loves preaching, and it was a joy to be with them again.  Part of my reason for being in that part of Arizona was to talk to churches about upcoming summer camp.  In all of the madness surrounding the virus, children, who are the lowest risk category, have suffered the most from people's reaction.  One of the messages I had to communicate was that we still plan to provide an opportunity for children to come apart and be ministered to in a camp setting.

From Amado, we were in the New Testament Baptist Church of Safford, Arizona.  What a great group of people!  They seemed to just love hearing the Word of God.  In conversation, I mentioned a camp need in passing, and the Lord laid it on the heart of the church to meet the need.  Praise the Lord!

One final church in Arivaca, AZ, finished out the month.  Pastor Rick Lewis and his dear wife Leah had invited us to come years ago, but we were only able to come this year.  What a blessing it was to see all that God has done through the years in the Faith Baptist Church of Arivaca. 

As I write this, we have stopped for the night in Monahans, Texas, in our return trip to Mississippi.  The plan is to be home late Thursday night.  Thank you for all of your prayers for us.  Know that God is working in hearts.

Coast to Coast

 The meetings are running in full tilt right now.  We have been in Louisiana, Georgia, Mississippi, and now California as we preach the Gospel in different churches.  God has been good to us to keep us safe and to have everything going well.

When we took our trailer to Louisiana, we discovered a serious water leak that included the need to replace our water heater.  This was a difficult process that included tearing out a lot of rotten wood from the trailer and replacing it with new 3/4 in. plywood.  This task we completed while in a meeting in our home church in Mississippi.  When we left with trailer in tow, we thought that the water could be fixed at the next church.  After a couple of days of showering in a different building, we got the leak fixed--or so we thought.  It seemed that each time one fitting was repaired another leak showed up in its place.  Then, the leaks would seemingly stop for a while only to return the next day.  It was not until Monday of this week that I got the final fitting, I hope, fixed.  At least, there was not water the next morning when I looked at it.  I will probably take the bay apart and look again soon just to make certain that the hose that didn't leak when I put everything back together is still water tight.  What a circus this has been!

Sam was standing in line at a local auto parts store here in California when he heard the pastor offer a tract to the clerk behind the counter.  He requested that he might have a tract as well, and the pastor was only too happy to oblige.  In the process of the conversation, the pastor was able to lead Sam to Christ at the auto parts store.  Sam was in church this evening.  Please pray for him as he grows in the Lord.

Please also pray for a woman named Saida (spelling?) who works with a church member here in California.  She is going through a difficult divorce and needs to be saved.  Please pray that God will overcome every obstacle so that she will come, hear the Gospel, and trust Christ.

One of the great burdens I have is to see people under the sound of the Gospel.  In all that has taken place in the name of COVID-19, it is difficult to miss the fact that the scare over the virus has been disruptive for churches.  Especially disrupted has been evangelistic outreach of different kinds.  As hard as it was to get unsaved people to church before, it seems even harder with the fear of disease thrown into the mix.  It almost seems as if Satan concocted this plan to further alienate sinners from the truth that will set them free.  Would you pray that God will give you and me, both of us, utterance to give the Gospel during this time?  As always, thank you for your prayers.

First Album

Ever since July, we have been talking about the upcoming availability of our family's first album.  The original hope was to have it by Christmas, but that did not work out.  Now, I am happy to report that the album is available, both in CD form and digital download.  The CD can be ordered through us, provided you don't mind shipping through the United States Postal Service.  This service proved to be disastrously incompetent in the waning weeks of 2020, but the hope is that they will get back to more normal delivery now that Christmas is behind us for a while.  That being said, our family still has packages in limbo, lost in the system, having been sent from Dayton, OH, to Memphis, TN, to Atlanta, GA, and so on over the space of two months time.  If the possibility of waiting several months bothers you, you can either pay extra to have the package shipped via a private company (UPS or FedEx) or just purchase the digital download.

Speaking of the digital download, although we have paid to have the music included in many digital platforms, the only one that I know is making the album available right now is Amazon Music.  For those of you reading this online, you can go directly to the download here.  For those reading the e-mail version, you would do best to go to Amazon.com and search for "God Is in Every Tomorrow."  The individual song will come up first, but there will be a link to the entire album, which is available for purchase.  Feel free to contact me (information below) if you have any questions.

Our meetings are back in full swing again.  As I write this, we are in a meeting in the back woods of Louisiana.  It has been great to see the work that God has done in hearts in this country church.  The church is so far out in the country that I do not get a good cell signal, but there is something a little refreshing about even that.  We close Friday and then go home for a meeting there in which our family will be doing music while Evangelist Richard Harper is preaching.  From there it is coast to coast--Georgia to California.

We are grateful for the doors that are currently open to preach the Gospel in the United States.  What changes this year will bring is beyond the scope of our knowledge.  What we do know is that God is in control and He will meet every need that we have.

If you have a need to contact our ministry, please do so through our website.  After the initial contact, I will answer you through my e-mail address.  I have learned the hard way that giving out my contact information online is not a good idea.

May God bless all of you, and thank you for your prayers.